Finishing machine



Jan. 25, 1927.

H. D. ELLIOTT FINISHING MACHINE F iled Ju1y l8, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheetl Fig.1.

- I/NVEN 7'01? I 2 0 Jan 1927 H. D ELLIOTT FINISHING MACHINE Filed July 18, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 1927' H. D. ELLIOTT FINISHING MACHINE Filed July 18, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Jan. 25, 1927.

cairn-n PATENT creme.

E TS', To unrrnfnsnon .MAtiI-IINERY CORPORATION, or rn'rnnsou, NEW JER- See, A ooRroRATIo'n OF NEW JnnsnY.

lfppl'ieation fild July is, 1921. Serial no. 435,717.

This invention relates to finishing machines and is herein shown as embodied in a machine for bu'fling and cleaning the bottoms of boots and'shoes. I

In the operation of finishing shoe bottoms, itis customary to subject the work, and particularly the shank, to the action of a pneumatic pad having" acoarse' abrasive covering of emery or sandpaper to remove the glaze from the grain of the leather. The workis then subjected to the action of a cleaningbrush' 'or to a second pad having a fine abrasive covering to remove scratches and rub up the nap of the fibres of the leather to give it a velvety appearance. The pneumatic pads are mounted in front of and some distance from" exhaust inlets so that there will be room for manipulation of the shoe and the pads are supplied with air from a pump to make them act as a cushion for the abrading material. Machines of this type are known as Naumkeag buffers.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved inachine'of this'charac'ter. In accordance with afeature of the invention, as illustrated, the exhaust coifduits for the abrasive pads have their inlet openings arranged with their suction centers each approximately opposite the point of application of the workto a pad. Each conduit is provided with an offset portion which extends outwardly and downwardly at thatside of the disk'which rotates toward the opening. This results in a more efficient disposal of the abrasive particles and avoids interference with manipulation of the shoe.

The facility and speed with which an operator can use the machine dependlarg'ely upon the relative arrangement of the com,- ponent parts and, in the'illustrated embodiment the exhaust conduits converge at the rear and merge with an exhaust casing which encloses a central cleaningbrush' and the driving mechanisms for the pump and the cleaning" brush are shown located at opposite' ends of' a drive shaft'an'd' enclosed in separate removable casings. This also provides a balanced, compact and accessible construction and arrangement, In accordance witlranother feature, a removable sec tion of the supportingcasing has a pair of diverging hollow arms forsupporting the pads and these hollow arms serve the further function ofenclosingthe drive mechanism for the pads. In order to increase the strength and make a more compactassembly, the hollow arms are joined together and braced by a hollow casting which serves also as a tank or reservoir for the air from the pump.

These and other features and advantages of the invention will appear from a consid erat-ion of the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which,-

Fig. 1 is a front elevation;

Fig. 2 is a ri ht-hand side elevation with portions broken away and in section to show the interior construction, and

Fig. 3 is a top plan view with a portion of the pump casing cut away to show the interior construction.

The machine is carried by a standard 10 having at its upper end a main casing v12 in which rotates a cleaning brush 14. To the main casing are joined a pair of conduits 16, 16whichconverge at their rear ends and merge into the main casing A portion of the bottom wall 18 of the conduits forms a circular top wall covering a portion of the periphery of the cleaning brush. This wall has a horizontal extension 20 forming an upper and a lower passage communicating: with the exhaustoutlet 22 which may be connected to any suitable exhaust apparatus.

Secured detachably' as by bolts 24 to the main casing is an auxiliary casing carrying a pump, tank and a pair of rotary pads of a buflingmechanism. A pair of hollow arms 26 diverge from this casing and at their forward ends are provided with bearings for the vertical shaftsof pneumatic pads 28, 30, these pads being covered in the usual way with an abrasive such as emery cloth or sandpaper extending over the end face and around the periphery. The axis of rotation of each of these pads and a plane parallel to said axis erected at the point on the periphery where the work is applied and bisecting the forward part of the suction conduits 1.6 are relatively offset by a distance substantially equal to the radius of the disk. To strengthen the lower arms they are joined to get-her by a hollow casing 32 which serves as a tank or reservoir for'the air which acts as a cushioning fluid for the pads. From the front ofthe tank extends an outlet pipe 3% having branch pipes 36 in which are interposed valves 38 for independently regulat-ng the supply of air to each pad.

Air is supplied to the tank 32 from an elbow 40 which connects the pipe 42 with valves 44, 44 at each end of the pump cylinder 46. lVithin the cylinder is a piston block 48 having pistons at each end and a central stud 50 passing through slots in the s?de of the cylinder. The stud is connected by links 52 to a crank 54 formed on one end of the cross shaft 56 journalled in the framework. The cross shaft is driven by a worm wheel 58 from a worm 60 on the vertical drive shaft 62. This shaft 62 may be driven directly by a motor or through any suitable gearing or belts.

At the other side of the machine is the cleaning brush driving mechanism which is enclosed in a removable casing 64. On this end of the shaft 56 is a pulley 66 which drives the pulley 72 through the medium of a belt 68 which also passes around an idler pulley 70 thus driving the brush counterclockwise, as viewed from the right end. The idler pulley acts as a belt tightener and is carried on the arm 74 of a lever pivoted at 76 to the casing and having an arm 78 Slotted for the reception of an adjusting clamp bolt 80 to regulate the tension of the belt.

To drive the rotary pads the drive shaft 62 has a pulley 82 around which passes a belt 84 which also runs around pulleys 86 on the pad shaft and around the idler pulley 88. This belt travels in such a direction that, when viewed from above, the pads rotate counter-clockwise. The idler pulley acts as a belt tightener, being carried on the end of a 1101i zontal arm 90 pivoted at 92 to the casing and having an extension 94 engaged by an adjusting screw 96 threaded in a lug 98 on the cas ng. It should be noted that the driving mechanism for the pad shafts is enclosed within the casing constituted by the diverging arms which form the bearings for the pad shaft.

Each conduit for exhausting the abrasive particles from the pad has a top wall 100 which extends forwardly and downwardly as indicated at 1.02 and then upwardly at 104 to form a lip to intercept the scatterings from the stream of abrasive particles thrown off by centrifugal force. Each conduit at its inlet ogening is extended downwardly to the right as at 106 to form a proiecting portion near the active edge of the abrasive disks. Vi hen suction is applied to the exhaust outlet 22, a current of air will be set up in the conduits 16 and the direction and effective extent of this current at or near the inlet openings will be determined by the shape of the conduits and their openings. This current will be slowed down at its periphery by frictional contact with the walls of the conduits and will have its maximum strength somewhere near its mathematical center at a place which will be termed its suction center. Each pad is arranged so that the edge which rotates toward the inlet openings is at or near the suction center of the latter. The relative disposition of the disks and the conduits is such that a line tangential to a disk at the point of application of the work, as later explained, will intersect the plane of the corresponding opening at approximately its center. Similarly the bottom surfaces of the disks or pads lie in planes bisecting the suction openings. This provides for a more efficient exhaust of the particles. The right-hand walls 108, 110 of the conduits form with the downwardly oil'- set portions of the bottom walls 106 substantially triangular inlet openings and the wall 110 and the left-hand wall 112 of the right hand conduit merge at the rear into the partition. 114 which separates the two conduits at the rear.

It should be understood that the pads are mounted to rotate in the same direction with their right-hand edges moving in the direction of the inlet openings. In the use of the machine by the operator for buffing the shanks of shoes he will commonly hold the shoe with the toe supported in his left hand and the. heel supported in his right hand with the shank uppermost. The shank will then be presented to one of the rotary pads, ordinarily that one which is provided. with the coarser abrasive so as to remove any stains or dirt and to remove glaze from the skin of the leather. In practice, the greater part of the buliing operation is done by the edge and marginal portion of the rotary disk and, by reason of the manner of use, the point of presentation of the work will come when viewed from above, at a point near the right hand side of the disk where it is moving toward the opening of the exhaust conduit. Motion of the pad therefore will tend to carry by centrifugal force the bulk of the dust directly into a central portion of the conduit where it will be picked up by the air current and carried along unimpeded. Any scatterings from the main stream of particles will be intercepted by the upstanding lip 104 or by the offset portions 108 and 110. It will be seen that the downwardly extending portions 106 are arranged to catch those particles which may have been heavy enough to have been drawn down by gravity and will also set up an air current adapted to pick up the said particles and pull them into the openings. The shoe will ordinarily be presented next to the other of the rotary pads where it will be treated with a much liner abrasive covering adapted to remove any scratches or inequalities in the surface and to rub up the nap so as to give to the finished shoe bottom a velvety appearance. The operator will next present the shoe bottom to the cleaning brush 14 which will re ters Patent of the United States is:

1. A buffing machine, having in combination, a rotary abrading disk, an exhaust condnit having an inlet opening adjacent to the disk, said opening having its section center approximately opposite that edge of the disk which rotates toward the openlng, and said conduit having an offset portion extending away from said edge of the disk.

2. A buffing machine, having in combination, a rotary abrading disk and an exhaust conduit having an inlet opening adjacent to said disk, said conduit having an offset portion extending downwardly at that side of the disk which rotates toward the openin 3. A bufling machine, having in combination, an abrading disk rotatable about a vertical axis and arranged to allow the presentation of work to its periphery or against its bottom surface and an exhaust conduit having an inlet opening adjacent to the disk, and an offset portion extending away from the projecting edge of the disk, said opening having its suction center approximately in line with a tangent drawn at that point on the edge of the disk which rotates toward the opening at which the work is applied and in the plane of the bottom surface of the disk.

41-. In a bufling machine, an exhaust casing having an enlarged central portion open at the front and a pair of conduits diverging upwardly and forwardly from the central portion to form an exhaust opening at each side of the central portion, a cleaning brush mounted in the opening at the central portion of the casing, rotary abrading disks mounted in front of the side openings, the relative disposition of said disks and said conduit openings being such that a line tangential to a disk at the point of application of the work will intersect the plane of the corresponding opening at approximately its center with the result that particles of matter abraded from the work will be thrown by centrifugal force directly toward the opening and enter unimpeded.

5. In a buffing machine, in combination, a central cleaning brush, a central casing having an exhaust inlet for said brush, rotary pneumatic pads, spaced conduits for said pads, a cross shaft mounted on said casing, driving connections from the shaft to the pads, a'pump driven from one end of said cross shaft connected to supply a fluid to the pads, a pulley at the other end of the cross shaft, and driving connections from the pulley to the cleaning brush.

6. In a bufiing machine, in combination, a casing having a central exhaust inlet and a pair of smaller exhaust inlets at the sides of the central inlet, a cleaning brush mounted in said central inlet, rotary pads mounted in front of the smaller inlets, a driven shaft extending across the casing, drive connections from the shaft to the pads, a pump connected to supply the pads with cushioning fluid, drivin connections from one end of the shaft to t e pump, and driving connections from the other end of the shaft to the cleaning brush.

7. In a bufiing machine, in combination, a rotary disk having a peripheral and an end abrading surface, and an exhaust conduit having an inlet opening adjacent to the disk and an offset portion extending downwardly at that side of the disk which rotates towards the opening, the axis of rotation of said disk being offset from a plane parallel thereto erected at the point on the periphery where the work is applied and bisecting the inlet portion of the conduit by a distance substantially equal to the radius of the abrading disk, said end surface also lying in a plane bisecting the inlet opening.

8. In a buffing machine, in combination, a drive shaft, a casing, hollow arms extending from said casing, pad shafts mounted to ro tate in bearings on said hollow arms, pulleys on the pad shafts, a pulley on the drive shaft, said pulleys being disposed within the casing and hollow arms, and a belt running around all of said pulleys and enclosed with in said casing and hollow arms.

9. In a bufling machine, in combination, a frame, a pair of arms diverging from the frame, pneumatic pads mounted to rotate in said arms, a tank connecting said arms, an air pump, pipe connections from the pump to the tank, and pipe connections from the tank to the pneumatic pads.

10. In a buffing machine, in combination, a frame, a pair of arms diverging from the frame, pneumatic pads mounted to rotate in said arms, a tank connecting said arms, an air pump, pipe connect-ions from the pump to the tank, an outlet pipe extending from the tank, branch pipes connecting said outlet pipe with said pads, and valves in each branch pipe to control the flow of air to each pad.

name to this specification.

HARRYD. ELLIOTT.

Ill)

CERTIFICATE OF CQRRECTIQN.

Patent No. 1,615,446. Granted January 25, 1927, to

HARRY D. ELLEQTT.

It is hereby certified that ermr appears in the printed specification 0f the above numbered patent requiring correction es fellows: Page 3, line 13, claim I, for the word "section" read "sucticn"; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may confcrm to the rQcord of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 30th day at August, A. D. 1927.

M. J. Mcore, cal. Acting tlommissioher of Patents. 

